Development
Halo 4 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary were both officially announced on June 6, 2011, at the E3 2011. Halo 4 is the first installment in the Reclaimer trilogy (or Reclaimer Saga) of Halo games. Whereas the original trilogy of Halo games was developed by Bungie, Halo 4 was developed by 343 Industries, a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios. 343 Industries was established by Microsoft Studios to oversee the Halo universe following Bungie's separation from Microsoft in 2007. Unlike the original trilogy, the story for Halo 4 was designed to be part of a three-game arc from the beginning. In addition, 343 Industries aimed for "a more complete connectivity between all of their future media than before"; relating Halo 4's story to the Forerunner Saga and Kilo-Five Trilogy novels as well as using terminals in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary to introduce background knowledge on the Forerunners. The studio's creative team, which included nearly 200 people led by creative director Josh Holmes, started developing the game as early as 2009.
In 2008, while 343 Industries was still in formation, Microsoft approached Starlight Runner Entertainment to help assemble the "Halo bible". Starlight Runner is a New York based company that specializes in creating and producing transmedia franchises. Their job was to examine all content of the Halo universe, clean it up, and make it coherent and understandable for the people involved with the creation of Halo games and media. Frank O'Connor, a content manager at Bungie, assisted the team with the creation of the "Halo bible" before moving to 343 Industries to become Halo franchise development director.
Certain Affinity, an independent video game development studio, was contracted by 343 Industries to help with the development of Halo 4; they started work on the game in early 2011. Certain Affinity has worked alongside Bungie and 343 Industries on producing multiplayer content for previous Halo titles. The studio developed the Forge mode, co-developed War Games and created a number of maps and multiplayer modes for Halo 4. On July 7, 2012, a pre-release build of Halo 4's Forge mode was showcased by 343 Industries and Certain Affinity at the Rooster Teeth Expo which took place at the Austin Convention Center. On September 26, 2012, Frank O'Connor announced that the game's development was complete.
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